He Loves Her
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: This one is short; I wrote it quickly. Just some Reylo fluff that I imagine taking place at the end of Episode IX. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Deep, intense fear filled Rey's eyes as she witnessed what was happening on the battlefield. The First Order had just crumbled from within before a fight with the Resistance could even commence. Armitage Hux had been betrayed and killed...

By none other than Kylo Ren himself. The man who was now Ben Solo, returned to the Light. And now he was hunched over with a deep flesh wound, struggling and unable to get up.

Concern and distress flowing off her Force essence in waves, Rey rushed to his side. Drawing him into a tight embrace, she cradled his body close to her chest. Ben was sputtering, and it took great effort for him to speak.

"I... I didn't think... it would be this painful," he croaked.

Rey's eyes filled with tears as she gazed down at him, full of love. Yes, she was in love with him - she had stopped denying that ever since Crait. If this was the will of the Force, for them to be together for balance to be achieved even more, let it be... And now she began to panic, as she reached out to her love with the Force and realized -

"I can't feel you!"

Ben smiled at her sadly. "I gave it up, Rey. I had to. I had to save you. From Hux. Even if..." And he began to cry. "Even if now, I'm nothing."

Rey stared at him, speechless, her heart breaking for him. She shook her head, her tears falling on his upturned face. "But not to me." Whipping her face back to her flabbergasted friends in the Resistance close behind her, she ordered, no nonsense, "He needs a medic's care! And quickly!"

Finn nearly dropped the mobile transmitter as his hands shook trying to plug in coordinates, do research. Rendering a holographic projection, he pointed and held it out for Rey to see. "There. Polis Massa. It's an asteroid, actually, with a medical center."

"Polis Massa?" Rey frowned. "Is it close?"

"A parsec or two away." Finn rifled through some more stats. "It comes highly recommended."

"Going there might be his only chance," Poe spoke up, though his voice seemed to struggle, as if it pained him to do so. "He'll die if he stays here."

Rey and Ben looked at each other fretfully. For the first time since she had known him, since she had fallen in love with him, Ben appeared truly scared. "Come with me?"

Rey glanced back to the Resistance, then returned her eyes to him, her heart splitting in two. Pressing his hand to her cheek, she regarded him forlornly. "I'm needed here."

Ben's gaze shifted into hardened resolve, as if he had accepted a heavy consequence. "Then... I'll stay with you!" He started to get up, but Rey's gentle palm pressed him back into the earth.

"No," she cried. "You have to go!"

"But I can't leave you..."

"Ssssshhh..." Rey pressed a finger to his lips to calm him. "You never will. No matter what happens, I'll always be with you... forever."

And dipping her head, she kissed him - a long, slow, passionate kiss. Rey opened her mouth to him, and he to hers. Her tongue slipped in between the split to caress his, even as her palm cradled and stroked his cheek. Her eyes fluttered shut and she deepened the kiss; it was as if she was trying to pass her very breath, her very soul, into his body, if that would keep him alive just a little longer.

At long last, the couple broke apart tenderly. Rey could feel the abject astonishment from her friends behind her, but she didn't care; let them think what they would! Rey laced her fingers through Ben's and guided them together so that they rested on her abdomen. Bending her face quite close to nuzzle his nose, she then whispered in his ear:

"That night... when we touched hands... you and the Force filled my womb. A child of your bloodline grows in my belly. He will be great, like his father. But you _have_ to live to see him." The tears shook her voice. "Ben, you're going to live."

Ben could not help but smile, even through his amazement, at Rey's pronouncement. And also he smiled at the fierceness in her voice. "Yes, Rey: forbid me now to die. I'll obey..." He winced as he took in a particularly arduous breath. "I will try."

"Do or do not. There is no try," Rey coached him, remembering the old lesson that Luke Skywalker, and Yoda before him, had taught her oh so long ago.

A medical unit was scrambled together, and the former Supreme Leader was lifted onto it. Letting go of his hand was the hardest thing that Rey ever had to do. Ben was hustled onto a freighter, and with a roar of the thrusters, it was blasting off into the sky, headed for Polis Massa. Rey waved it on with a plaintive raise of her hand in farewell.

 _I love you, Ben_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

All was quiet aboard the _Millennium Falcon_. At least, in the main guest quarters. At the holographic game table, Poe Dameron assessed his options, searching for a quick way to win. So far, it was a struggle.

Chewbacca, his game partner, roared at him to hurry it up.

"Acklay to D5," Poe announced. The holographic rendering of the Geonosian creature advanced... only to get stabbed in the side by Finn's rathtar.

"I win!" Finn crowed triumphantly.

Poe gaped in horror a few moments too late. "Uhhh! You killed it!"

"And now you gotta pay up!" Finn wagged a hand in Poe's face. The pilot started to hand over his blaster, but the former Stormtrooper shook his head. "Na, na, na - the jacket; give me the jacket..."

Poe huffed as he grudgingly shrugged the jacket off his shoulders. "How about three out of five?"

"Better luck next time. Good game, FN-2187." Ben Solo, having made a full recovery on the asteroid that had once failed to save his grandmother, nodded in Finn's direction. He seemed calm with these men - once his enemies - for the first time. However, the very next moment, a scream of pain from the next room made all the men nearly jump out of their seats. Ben instinctively rose, his muscles burning with tension, ready to fly into motion at any moment. _Rey..._

The door to the captain's quarters now flew open and a sweaty Rose emerged, breathing hard! "Connix! Doctor Kalonia, hurry!" Two women rushed past the game table, armed with blankets and medical supplies and Rose ushered them in, closing the door behind them. She had barely turned around before Ben was practically accosting her by the door. "Rose... please let me in..."

"I wish I could, Ben," she smiled at him with a mixture of sadness and sympathy. "But we can't risk any extra individuals being in the way." She meant well by this statement, but it still bothered the young Solo.

"Extra individ... I'm the father!" Ben spluttered, clearly offended.

"And when the delivery is over, you will get to see them," Rose placated Ben, holding up a hand.

"I don't blame you, Ben. It's taking so long," Finn fretted, and he got up from the game table, pacing the floor.

Poe leaned back in the booth, appearing out-of-sorts. "I'm amazed she even agreed to have his kid at all. Out of pity, probably." He didn't even bother to make these comments under his breath, but perhaps that was not his desired effect. Ben rounded on Poe and advanced, eyes burning.

"Who are you to criticize her? Who are you to despise her? Leave her, let her be now! Leave her - she's with _me_ now! If your slate is clean, then you can throw stones; if your slate is not, then leave her alone!" He pointed a shaking finger at Poe. "Remember, Dameron, the Force is back in my command. You just remember that." Turning away, he huffed in frustration. "I can't stand it any longer." Using his Jedi reflexes, he danced around Rose and dashed into the captain's quarters.

"Hey!" Finn gawped.

"Why does he get to go back there and not us?" Poe whined, sounding like a little kid.

Rose smiled softly, still staring where Ben had just vanished. "He loves her," she sighed, and she clearly thought it romantic.

It was getting on evening by the time Doctor Kalonia emerged. "Mother and baby are ready for visitors now. Follow me." And she led the trio and Chewbacca back.

The group beheld Rey propped up in a fluffy bed, tenderly kissing Ben and holding a blue bundle between them. The new mother beamed, glowed even, and the hard heart in Poe melted away. Despite all his lingering problems with Ben, the Commander had to admit - the two of them (well, now three) looked pretty cute.

Rey smiled widely at her friend's arrival. Kissing the infant's forehead, she announced, "His name is Anakin. Anakin Solo."


End file.
